Robert Duvall Interview

An Interview with Robert Duvall

Quick Bio

Robert Duvall was never and will never be the glitzy Hollywood leading man. At the age of 80 and splitting his time between the Deep South and film sets, he doesn’t engage in Los Angeles politics, fake glamour or studio hype. He’s an actor and filmmaker who’s earned the right to take on only the work and life pursuits that ignite his passion. Though the Oscar buzz around his latest release, the small Sony Classics release Get Low, didn't result in a nomination for Duvall, he's no stranger to the event: he's been nominated for an Oscar six times and won Best Actor in 1983.

During a recent press event built around Get Low, Duvall talked about what he’s learned in more than a half-century working in Hollywood -- a matter of hours after his hands and feet were immortalized in cement outside Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.

On the subject of relationships, you make jokes about your age, but your Argentinean wife is much younger than you. How does that chemistry work?

Robert Duvall: We love each other, and we share a birthday. But there are tricky moments here and there. When I met her father, he said he didn’t know whether to call me Dad or Son.

Let's fast-forward to today: You're now part of history at Grauman's Chinese, alongside everyone from Bob Hope to Darth Vader. You've said it came as a total surprise. You're a Hollywood veteran, and you were never aware of the tradition?

RD: I had never heard of such a thing, but I said, “Sure, why not?” It was fun. When I got down on my hands and knees, I said, “Well, it was easy getting down here. Good luck getting me back up!” I yelled, “Hallelujah!” from that position -- I didn’t know what else to say. But it was good to have my friends like Jimmy Caan and Billy Bob Thornton there with me.

Over the years, you've worked with some legends like Caan, Thornton, Al Pacino, Gregory Peck, and John Wayne. How do you compare all of those men with the younger actors you're seeing now?

RD: I was fortunate enough to work on three of the greatest films ever made: TheGodfather, The Godfather: Part II and Lonesome Dove. And I learned a lot from the people I worked with on each of those.

One man I worked with that I don’t think is talked about enough is Horton Foote (screenwriter of the classic To Kill a Mockingbird, in which Duvall played Boo Radley without uttering a word). The first film I did, Mockingbird, was because I’d been in a Foote play. I’d hoped Foote would get to see Get Low, but he never did. He was 93 years old and still writing, but he was ailing. He had dementia.

I told him I wanted him to see it because it reminded me of his work -- a little edgier. When we were filming, there was a scene where they bring out my coffin. My real wife was there, just off camera, and while we were shooting this scene, she got a call that he’d died. So, it was like full circle from To Kill a Mockingbird. Maybe he was there -- maybe he did get to see it.